The 100 4×04 A Lie Guarded: I’m High Key Stressed

Another episode, another article I start with the words, “Where do I EVEN BEGIN?!”, especially since I am fresh off my first (of many) viewings and I am in the full process of ‘can’t even’ing right now. I dropped enough F-bombs in my live viewing of this that I’m pretty sure the flowers next to me wilted, they were that ashamed. But enough with the small talk, let’s just dive right in to it.

Adventure Squad 2.0:

Our newly established Adventure Squad(the second) of Abby, Jackson, Miller, Murphy, Emori, Luna, Nyko, and of course Raven ventured out to where Becca kept a lab in the hopes of running tests on Luna and her nightblood-having self. Thanks to Emori, they knew that there was a certain line that they couldn’t cross on the island and Murphy, being the Murphy that he is, stepped over that line, flippantly retorting that there was no line that he wouldn’t cross. That is both so true and a little ironic considering the survival gene is strong in this one and if anybody is making it out of Apocalypse: The Return, it’s him.

Once he and Random Man #1 crossed the threshold of the ~forbidden area~ all hell broke loose. Rando (sorry, bruh) was killed almost immediately by an activated drone, a precaution that Alie had set up to stop people from getting to Becca’s lab. With that activation, it was open fire for our squad. The group was, of course, split up in to little sub-groups, quite deliberately, I’m sure: Raven/Murphy/Emori, Nyko/Luna, Jackson/Miller/Abby. Thus with the bullet happy drones, came the second death in Nyko. Twas the first tear up of the episode. Nyko, who was just reassuring Luna that everything would work out, that they could trust SkaiKru, was shot down, sacrificing his life for Luna’s. I said in my last article that Luna was a woman that had lost everything, and now, she truly has. Nyko was the last tangible thing she had and he’s now gone. While panic was ensuing and the group split up, Luna bolted. Luckily, Raven was designated to the beach and was able to talk her out of abandoning them on the island and taking the boat (you know…after she pulled a gun on her and then thought, “Nah. Not my best plan.”) Luna has given up her faith in humanity, questioning if they all even deserve to survive since all they know is fighting and war, despite what they tell themselves to make it through. Raven brings up Adria in an attempt to convince Luna that there is still good in the world, good in people. It works and Luna stays behind to help Raven help the others, despite feeling like she is little more than a 24/7 blood drive. “It’s not your blood that defines you, Luna. It’s your heart.”

The second heart attack of the evening came courtesy of Abby who was attempting to get to an injured Jackson and Miller. In an effort to distract the still active drone and lure it away from them, she pulled away from Murphy telling him to shoot it down and yelled until the drone focused on her. In a heart stopping sequence of events, Jackson croaked out his classic, “Abby!” as the drone zeroed in on her, Murphy’s gun wouldn’t shoot, and Abby was clearly locked in to the drones sensors, ready to shoot. At the do or die moment, Raven and Luna saved the day! Luna ran through the line sensitive area to get the drone Miller had earlier shot down, retrieving it for Raven who had a very noticeable moment of Alie brain kicking in, allowing her to disable all of the drones through their core mainframe. Once everyone had come together again, risk of bullets taking them out like our beloved Nyko and Random Man #1 now gone, the group finished the five mile hike and made it to Becca’s lab. From the outside, it appears as a large tower, and on the inside? The inside is a tech nerds dream. Everything was white, technical, and gadgety. Thanks to my editors and site owners here, I now can see a similar model design of the outside of Becca’s lab and of a ‘DoomsDay Vault’ known as Vault 7. Coincidence? Well, this is The 100, so probably not.

Other things of notice about Adventure Squad 2.0:

1) Emori begging Murphy for them to just leave because, “There are worse things on this island than some drones.” Perhaps another radiation altered gorilla?

2) Raven and Murphy. What is UP with those two? One minute they’re snarking at each other so hard (and with good reason. Let’s not forget that it is Murphy’s fault that Raven needs a brace in the first place)and the next there seems to be an undercurrent of something subtle. The romantic in me wants to call it flirting (“Watch out, Reyes. Emori has dibs.”) but the other side of me wonders if Murphy is doing his own version of atonement. Murphy can sass with the best of them and can be outright cruel. He was a gentler approach with Raven, while still remaining true to his Murphyness.

3) Extremely shallow but Luna is stunning.

4) Can Luna and Raven be bff’s? They could both use someone in their lives.

5) Special Kabby cuteness shout-out. Too adorable with that radio.

You Get a Ticket, and YOU Get a Ticket…

Over in Arkadia, all work and no play makes Clarke a very tense woman. While the rest of the Arkadians are trying to find some fun and humor in their lives (they literally floated Jaha out in to the middle of the river. Obviously The Parent Trap was played during movie nights on the Ark), Clarke has her stressed face on almost all episode. We did see her crack a smile at the prank before asking that everyone get back to work. Monty asks her what’s with her face (okay, okay, it was “What’s with the we’re all going to die face?”), and she can’t keep her worry at bay anymore. Bellamy should have been back from the hunting trip already and he’s not. Monty assures her that this is normal and does his best to comfort her and convince her she is not useless, that they need her there, not on Becca’s island. A little later we see Jasper and Monty sneak in to Clarke’s room to set up another prank, hoping that it’ll help her loosen up. They got a little more than they bargained for when Jasper stumbled across the list from last episode. He’s immediately disgusted with the entire concept of her playing God while it’s clear that Monty was aware of the list. What he wasn’t aware of was that he wasn’t on it. After Clarke comes in and gets a face full of foam, Jasper confronts her with the list and how dare she put her own name. We know, of course, that Clarke didn’t put her own name, but that’s a different story for a different time. Jasper tried to pull a Jake Griffin and was going to announce to the entire camp that Clarke was lying and announce the existence of the list. Clarke channeled her inner Jaha and stopped him in his tracks, using the shock baton on him and then having him arrested by the guards. Monty is more understanding then most everybody I know and understands why he isn’t on the list but doesn’t agree with how Clarke is handling anything. Let me pause and say that Monty is a much better person than me because I would not understand how someone who gave them the idea of turning the Ark into their new and improved shelter against radiation would not end up on the list. Cool, you guys take my idea and then leave me off the list of survivors. I think TF not. Moving on, Monty took over where Jasper left off, announcing to the entire camp about the list and then naming everyone who was on it, one by one. At this time, my anxiety was at an all time high and here’s where the show gets you. I easily see both sides. I get why Clarke did what she did and I get why Monty did what he did. It’s so grey that I cannot begin to pick a side. Here we learn that Clarke was trying to pull a Raven and be all brain and no feeling in her list selections, excluding people based on family history of illness, usefulness, and reproductive value. She made one emotional choice by putting Bellamy on the list and it was noted and thrown back in her face, because what does Bellamy have to offer when there are just as many people who can do what he can do? Hearing his OTP being questioned, Jaha stepped up and put his former Chancellor experience to use, making a season one era Bellamy speech, stating that if anybody wanted a slot on that list they’d have to work for it and work hard, and only then can your earn your place in the “maybe you get to live” lottery. As he tells Clarke, it makes people feel as if they have a fighting chance, gives them hope, makes them feel as if they aren’t useless, which Clarke had just mentioned feeling at the beginning of the episode. Clarke still has a lot to learn and it seems as if she might learn it from Jaha. Who would have thought?

My Sister, My Responsibility: AKA HDU, THE 100, HDU?!

It’s a joke amongst The 100 fandom that Roan ships Bellarke hardcore, mostly because of his, “I’m so fucking over you two.” look he dons whenever the two of them are being extra about the other. In this episode, Roan is more than fed up with not just them, but all of SkaiKru and TriKru. Pulling Kane away from the disappointed!Dad speech he was giving Octavia for being a murdering machine, Roan tells him that he knows that SkaiKru is building a protective shelter and because he wasn’t informed of this, their alliance is over. He doesn’t trust them. To further prove to Kane how over it is, he has his second favorite assassin Echo bring in a bound and gagged Bellamy and Random Man #2. Random Man #2 gets his throat slit for being a blabbermouth and Bellamy and Kane get taken to the dungeons while everyone else is to be killed on site. During all of this commotion, Octavia had left the premises briefly to walk off her fit about being ordered to get a grip because, “Lincoln taught you when not to kill.” Upon her return she sees the complete disarray and bodies, and for one brief moment (where my heart just about stopped again) we think Indra is dead. Luckily, it was just another rando. Now, Dying Man #1 was strangely coherent for someone bleeding to death, informing Octavia that Indra was safe and racing to inform TriKru about the kill order on them. Octavia knows she has to do the same for her people so SkaiRippa runs away from Echo and gang on her horse Helios. Quickly surrounded and of course on the edge of a cliff, it all comes down to this. Octavia is surrounded but easily takes out two of the men Echo had in her killing spree party, leaving it to a fight to the “death” between the two assassins. Echo insists that it doesn’t have to be this way and Octavia disagrees. They both get a few good shots in before Echo sinks her sword into Octavia’s abdomen and then helplessly watches her fall off the side of the cliff. It’s no secret that I’m not big fan of Echo but I could see past her (incredibly awful) make-up and see the surprise on her face that she was able to ‘kill’ O. She gave her the Grounders send off which begs the question, underneath it all did she actually respect Octavia?

Bellamy and Kane are chit chatting in their cell about how sucky literally everything is because no matter what happens or what they do, they always end up back at this place. Roan comes in with Echo (seriously, please wash your face, you both are much too attractive for that) and tells them that they’re going home. Why? Because massacre, duh. Bellamy gets to throw a little sass, telling them that Octavia will get there and warn them. This gives pause to Roan, Echo, and the audience. Your heart is pounding as you wait for one of them to drop the bomb that Octavia is no more. It was clear neither of them truly wanted to and Roan being KING and (and also the Bellarke shipper of the two) made Echo do it. My. Heart. Broke. As soon as Echo threw down Octavia’s sword at Bellamy’s face, it was over. We had a quick zoom in of Kane’s horrified face followed by Bellamy shaking everywhere: his head, his hands, his whole body, first in denial and then in agony. Clutching the bars and scream sobbing out a, “Nooooooo!” that will haunt for weeks to come, we saw this character collapse. Bellamy is tied to his sister in a way that is indescribable and seeing his complete and total breakdown is crushing. From her birth Octavia has been Bellamy’s entire world. He cared for her, tried to give her everything he could, shot Jaha to get down to Earth with her because he couldn’t leave her down there alone. She is as much of a part of him as his freckles, his curly hair, or his brown eyes. While Roan offered out a quick and uncomfortable sorry, Echo thought she was helping (?!) by saying it was a good death. Don’t go in to the medical field there, Echo. Still sobbing, Bellamy and Kane are dragged out of their cell on their way back to Arkadia.

The ending scene was a clear tribute to Lord of the Rings with Helios finding an injured but alive Octavia washed up on the shore. She slowly climbed on top of him and told him to bring her home. It brings the question, where is home? Octavia has always felt like she doesn’t belong anywhere, not to the grounders, not to the Ark. I think we’ll assume that she gets brought to Arkadia though, but we’ll know for sure in six days.

How We Did:

We’re staying steady at .04! I’m a big fan of this kind of consistency. According to hashtags.org, during the original east coast airing The 100 hashtag (#the100) reached 20,000 tweets in the hour. It once again trended in the US for several hours, during and after the live showing. Despite these things, we did not place in the Nielsen Top Five again this week, but we were up against some pretty stiff competition. Make sure on show day to tag all of your tweets with #the100 three hours before, during, and three hours after the show airing.

For Your Viewing Pleasure:

Once again, I am such reaction video trash and there was quite a lot to react to this episode. Here’s what Corey has to say about it all:

And finally, make sure you tune in next week for 4×05 The Tinder Box. I spy angry!Clarke on a beach with Roan and his army confronting her while dangling Bellamy and Kane in front of her. Looks like it’s going to be another intense one!

You can catch The 100 at 9/8c on The CW. If you miss an episode, you can stream it on Amazon here.

Like what you read? Heather will be writing more about The 100 regularly for Post Apocalyptic Media. Join our email list to stay updated by clicking here and be sure to follow us on Twitter.

Heather is a twenty-something wine drinker and coffee lover who tweets too much and sleeps too little. She resides near the beaches in Mississippi where she annoys her family and friends with her obsessions of fictional people. She has a full time job with a health package and everything but she always finds time to over-invest in TV Shows and is thrilled that she now gets to share these obsessions with the world.

Vault 7 is (for now) unknown. Wikileaks tweeted about the phrase a few months ago and since then people have been speculating what they are referring too. Some guessed Svalbard, some connect it to the 7th floor of the CIA, some to Pizzagate and 9/11 conspiracies… basically it’s a weird internet thing for now. Hope this helps! Love your reviews! Look forward to them after every episode